The latest selection of crime fiction reviews for April, all 100 words a piece, and with a couple of authors pitches on their new books. Harlen Coben - Think Twice (Century) Don Winslow - City in Ruins (Hemlock) Lesley Kara - The Other Tenant (Bantam) Caz Frear - Five Bad Seeds (Simon & Schuster) Alis Hawkins The Skeleton Army (Canelo) Paul Carlucci - The Voyageur (Swift Press) Rachel McLean - The Dorset Crime Series (Hera) Seícho Matsumoto - Inspector Imanishi Investigates, trans Beth Cary ...
Apr 23, 2024•11 min
JULIE ANDERSON chats to Paul Burke about her latest thriller THE MIDNIGHT MAN , first in a new historical crime series, Whitehall machinations, the birth of the NHS, finding the post war history of Clapham community, the Clapham Literary Festival, The South London Women & Children's Hospital, the locked room mystery and old British movies. THE MIDNIGHT MAN : Winter 1946 - One cold dark night, as a devastated London shivers through the transition to post-war life, a young nurse goes missing f...
Apr 19, 2024•1 hr 10 min
On The Sofa With Victoria - Season 6 Episode 3: ELLERY LLOYD (THE CLUB) + NICCI FRENCH (HAS ANYONE SEEN CHARLOTTE SALTER) Victoria is joined by husband and wife teams, Nicci French (Sean French & Nicci Gerrard) and Ellery Lloyd (Paul Vlitos & Collette Lyons) to discuss the challenges of writing collaboratively. VICTORIA SELMAN SundayTimes bestselling author of ALL THE LITTLE LIARS Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/3xmvMeS Website for news and giveaways: http://www.victoriaselmanauthor....
Apr 16, 2024•39 min
STIG ABELL chats to Paul Burke about his new crime novel DEATH IN A LONELY PLACE , rural idyll as vest of Vipers, identity, writing a series, love of genre fiction and how crime fiction is a tonic for the soul. DEATH IN A LONELY PLACE In a quiet village, darkness is closing in… A rural paradise… Detective Jake Jackson moved to the countryside for a quieter life. And he finally seems to have his wish – spending his days immersed in nature, and his evenings lazing by the fire. A terrifying secret…...
Apr 10, 2024•1 hr 12 min
MORGAN GREENE chats to Paul Burke about his new crime thriller SAVAGE RIDGE , the why-dunnit not the who-dunnit, rural locations, indie and trad publishing. SAVAGE RIDGE Ten years ago, in the pine-shaded town of Savage Ridge, Nick, Emmy, and Pete murder their high school classmate, Sammy Saint John. His body is never found, and no arrests are made. The three friends make a pact to leave Savage Ridge and never return… Now, each is drawn home, seemingly by chance or fate. But it’s neither: Private...
Apr 09, 2024•1 hr 6 min
PHILIP GWYNNE JONES chats to Paul Burke about The Venetian Candidate (paperback now) and The Venetian Sanctuary (Hardback July), Venice, honorary consuls and Italy. The Venetian Candidate - To tell the truth is a revolutionary act. Battered by floods and crushed by overtourism, the city of Venice faces an uncertain future. The election of a new Mayor, therefore, has never felt more important. As the candidates jostle for position and alliances are made and promises broken, Andrea Mazzon, a contr...
Apr 05, 2024•57 min
Season 6 Episode 2: More Than Meets The Eye KRYSTAL SUTHERLAND (THE INVOCATIONS) + CATRIONA WARD (THE LAST HOUSE ON NEEDLESS STREET). Victoria is joined by authors Catriona Ward and Krystal Sutherland to discuss adding horror and supernatural ingredients to the Crime Fiction cauldron. VICTORIA SELMAN SundayTimes bestselling author of ALL THE LITTLE LIARS Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/3xmvMeS Website for news and giveaways: http://www.victoriaselmanauthor.com Twitter: @VictoriaSelman We lov...
Apr 02, 2024•33 min
Special Edition: SARAH MOORHEAD chats to STUART TURTON about his new high concept thriller THE LAST MURDER AT THE END OF THE WORLD , write what you know - rubbish, writing is unique to every person - don't box us in. THE LAST MURDER AT THE END OF THE WORLD Outside the island there is nothing: the world destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched. On the island: it is idyllic. 122 villagers and 3 scientists, living in peaceful harmony. The villagers are content to fish, fa...
Mar 28, 2024•58 min
Paul Burke takes a look at some of the new releases in crime fiction for March, 24. The Case of the Bereaved Butler Cathy Ace A Night at the Shore Tony Knighton The Assassin Tom Fletcher Out of the Darkness Alex Gray Close to Death Anthony Horowitz (Pub. 11/4) Requiem Bell David Michael Nolan Deliver Me Malin Persson Giolito The Croaking Raven Guy Hale The Innocents Bridget Walsh (11/4 release) Also: Rachel Wolf tells us about her new crime thriller Five Nights. Paul Burke writes for Monocle Mag...
Mar 25, 2024•14 min
GRAHAM BARTLETT chats to Paul Burke about his new police thriller CITY ON FIRE , the third Jo Howe novel. Brighton and policing in a modern city, dialing up the drama, Brighton's rebel soul, meeting readers, supporting 150+ writers with policing matters. CITY ON FIRE After losing her sister to an overdose, Chief Superintendent Jo Howe is desperate to tackle the world of drugs that consumes the shadowy backstreets of Brighton. Operation Eradicate is her response but not everyone sees it as a posi...
Mar 21, 2024•1 hr 6 min
SEASON 6 EPISODE 1: RICHARD NAIFF (WATERSTONES BRIGHTON) & ALEX FORBES (FOURBEARS BOOKS) What's Going to Be Hot in Crime This Year? Victoria is joined by booksellers, Alex Forbes + Richard Naiff as they peer into their crystal balls to reveal what's going to be hot in Crime this year. Mentioned in the show: Mick Herron, Agatha Christie, Tess Gerritsen, David McCloskey, Matthew Richardson. Gillian McAllister, Sarah Pinsborough, CJ Sansom, Lauren North, Cara Hunter. Gillian Flynn, Paula Hawkin...
Mar 19, 2024•36 min
TESS GERRITSEN chats to Paul Burke about her new spy crime thriller THE SPY COAST , Maggie Bird, Danny, living in a CIA retirement town, voices come to me ' I'm not the woman used to be' , MK Ultra, standing up for the older character and British TV. THE SPY COAST Maggie Bird is many things. A chicken farmer. A good neighbour. A seemingly average retiree living in the seaside town of Purity. She's also a darned good rifle shot. And she never talks about her past. But when an unidentified body is...
Mar 14, 2024•58 min
The latest edition of HEADS TOGETHER on CRIME TIME FM with Barry Forshaw , Victoria Selman and Paul Burke . Featuring new books, Barry's Blurays, SS Van Dine's Philo Vance on screen, writing to trend and branching out within the genre, #OnTheSofa & #InPersonWith guests, Murder By The Book (CWA, University of Cambridge), Oxford Literary Festival and Tim's Improvements. Reviews: Stig Abell Death in a Lonely Place Jane Casey Stranger in the Family Jonathan Whitelaw The Concert Hall Killer AJ Fi...
Mar 08, 2024•34 min
DOUGLAS JACKSON chats to Paul Burke about his new historical crime thriller Blood Roses , wartime Warsaw, series fiction, Ancient Rome, Caligula & The Angel of Death - Josef Mengele. BLOOD ROSES As the Nazis roll into Warsaw, a serial killer is unleashed… September 1939. A city ruled by fear. A population brutalised by restrictions and reprisals. Amid the devastation, another hunter begins to prowl. What are a few more deaths amid scores of daily executions? Former chief investigator Jan Kal...
Mar 04, 2024•54 min
TARA MOSS chats to Paul Burke about THE WAR WIDOW , modelling, travelling, human rights activism, The Fictional Woman, CRPS, Journalism, post war Sydney & what did you do during the war granddad/grandma? THE WAR WIDOW It's 1946 and WWII may be over, but journalist Billie Walker's search for a missing young man will plunge her right back into the danger and drama she thought she'd left behind in Europe. War correspondent Billie Walker is happy to finally be back home in glamorous Sydney, for ...
Mar 01, 2024•1 hr 11 min
SOPHIE MORTON-THOMAS chats to Paul about her psychological suspense novel BIRD SPOTTING IN A SMALL TOWN, Fran and Tad, ornithology, studying a masters in crime & thriller writing and getting enough sleep. BIRD SPOTTING IN A SMALL TOWN My feet are itching to walk to the shore, to leave the kids again, to sit with the birds and pretend none of this has happened. In a small, isolated town on the North Norfolk coast, Fran's life is unravelling. As she fills her days cleaning the caravan park she...
Feb 26, 2024•52 min
The Latest selection of Crime, Mystery and Thriller fiction reviewed by Paul Burke. The Books: Every Trick in the Book Bernard O'Keefe (Muswell Press PB) Gathering Storm Lynne McEwan (Canelo, PB)* The Harlem Detectives Chester Himes intro. SA Cosby (Everyman HB) Taken Dinuka MacKenzie (Canelo PB) Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter Nicci French (Simon & Schuster HB) Every smile You Fake Dorothy Koomson (Headline Review HB) The Descent Paul E Hardisty (Orenda PB) To the River Vikki Wakefield (No...
Feb 22, 2024•29 min
TONY KENT chats to Paul Burke about his new thriller THE SHADOW NETWORK , Dempsey & Devlin, Chiltern Kills, and obsessive hobby, working on TV true crime, conspiracy, the ensemble cast, the law. THE SHADOW NETWORK How do you take down an enemy when no one believes they exist? When the lawyers of alleged war criminal Hannibal Strauss are caught up in a terror attack in The Hague, barrister Michael Devlin immediately suspects all is not what it seems. Teaming up once more with Agent Joe Dempse...
Feb 13, 2024•1 hr 8 min
PAUL VIDICH & CHARLES CUMMING chat to Paul Burke about their latest novels BEIRUT STATION and KENNEDY 35 respectively. The Cold War, the luminal space, inherently political. BEIRUT STATION Lebanon, 2006. The Israel–Hezbollah war is tearing Beirut apart and the country is on the brink of chaos. The CIA and Mossad are targeting a reclusive Hezbollah terrorist. They turn to young Lebanese-American CIA agent, Analise, who has the perfect plan. However, Analise begins to suspect that Mossad has a...
Feb 07, 2024•1 hr 15 min
Former CIA analyst DAVID MCCLOSKEY chats to Paul Burke about his new exhilarating spy thriller MOSCOW X, Russia, Boyars, world views and ubiquitous technological surveillance. MOSCOW X A daring CIA operation threatens chaos in the Kremlin. But can Langley trust the Russian at its center? CIA operatives Sia and Max enter Russia to recruit Vladimir Putin’s moneyman. Sia works for a London firm that conceals the wealth of the super-rich. Max’s family business in Mexico – a CIA front since the 1960s...
Jan 31, 2024•1 hr 3 min
Barry Forshaw, Victoria Selman and Paul Burke talk January books and look forward to some titles later in the year, crime and thriller TV for 2024, a new seductive Miss Marple, character is king, the high concept, #OnTheSofa Season 6, out to lunch... Tim Sullivan Teacher Simon Mason Lost and Never Found Seicho Matsumoto Point Zero Agnes Ravatn The Guests Dan Malakin The Wreckage of Us Season 6 #OnTheSofa - Ellery Lloyd & Nicci French, Alex Michaelides, Lynda la Plante, Karin Slaughter, Clair...
Jan 26, 2024•27 min
EMMA CHRISTIE chats to Paul about her new psychological thriller IN HER SHADOW , The Caledonian Crime Collective, Portobello, psychological thrillers, Barcelona and a new found love for old movies. IN HER SHADOW Dave Kellock is a pillar of the community in Portobello, Edinburgh. A tireless volunteer who never misses a chance to help others, he's just been recognised on the King's Honours List. Dave Kellock is also a fraud. A moment of panic, violence and blood twenty years ago plagues his dreams...
Jan 23, 2024•38 min
GARRY DISHER chats to Craig Sisterson about his new novel Day's End , 'Hirsch', right wing extremism, stories ripped from the news, rural noir, backpackers & blue biro. DAY'S END : WHEN HATE RUNS DEEP, THE INNOCENT SUFFER Constable Paul Hirschausen's rural beat in the low hills of South Australia is wide. Daybreak to day's end, dirt roads and dust. Every problem that besets small towns and isolated properties, from unlicensed driving to arson. But now, just as Hirsch has begun to feel he kno...
Jan 19, 2024•52 min
S5E10 : LIVE recording in front of a studio audience - Victoria & Louise discuss their writing journeys, the challenge of setting books in the present day & where they get their ideas from! LOUISE CANDLISH - THE ONLY SUSPECT : Alex lives a comfortable life with his wife Beth in the leafy suburb of Silver Vale. Fine, so he’s not the most sociable guy on the street, he prefers to keep himself to himself, but he’s a good husband and an easy-going neighbour. That’s until Beth announces the c...
Jan 16, 2024•58 min
JAMES NAUGHTIE & SHANE WHALEY chat to Paul THE SPY ACROSS THE WATER , the Flemyng trilogy, spy novels are all about character, James Jesus Angleton's wilderness of mirrors and Kim Philby's melancholy. THE SPY ACROSS THE WATER We live with our history, but it can kill us. Faces from the past appear from nowhere at a family funeral, and Will Flemyng, spy-turned-ambassador, is drawn into twin mysteries that threaten everything he holds dear. From Washington, he's pitched back into the Troubles ...
Jan 13, 2024•1 hr 13 min
The latest crop of new crime fiction releases January 2024 reviewed by Paul Burke. The novels featured: Mari Hannah The Longest Goodbye *18/1 James Henry The Winter Visitors *1/2 Chris Hammer Cover the Bones *4/1 Tim Sullivan The Teacher *18/1 Ruth Mancini The Woman on the Ledge *4/1 Stephanie Sowden Directions for Dark Things *25/1 CS Robertson The Trials of Marjorie Crowe *18/1 Riley Sager The Only One Left *28/12/23 Carlo Fruttero & Franco Lucentini trans. Gregory Dowling *25/1 Sam Blake ...
Jan 10, 2024•22 min
MAXIM JAKUBOWSKI, publisher, editor, bookseller, writer & critic chats to Paul Burke about his new novel Just a Girl with a Gun . "Less sex Jakubowski" Cornelia c'est moi... Just a Girl with a Gun Killing Eve meets Mr and Mrs Smith In the neon-lit world of seduction and secrets, Cornelia, a mesmerizing stripper, finds herself pulled into a sinister web spun by the enigmatic organization known only as ‘The Bureau’. Recruited for her hidden talents, she becomes an unlikely assassin, caught bet...
Jan 05, 2024•1 hr 4 min
S9 E8: LIZZY BARBER & JP DELANEY #OnTheSofaWithVictoria Location, location, location. JP Delaney (THE NEW WIFE) & Lizzy Barber (NANNY WANTED) join Victoria to discuss the importance of place in Crime Fiction. Why different stories need different settings, the link between character and place and how to evoke atmosphere. VICTORIA SELMAN SundayTimes bestselling author of ALL THE LITTLE LIARS Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/3xmvMeS Website for news and giveaways: http://www.victoriaselm...
Jan 02, 2024•26 min
SHELLEY BURR chats to Craig Sisterson about her novels WAKE and MURDER TOWN *, winning awards, getting published, women crime writers leading the way down under. *referred to as Ripper in the interview, it's Austrialian title MURDER TOWN : Gemma Guillory has lived in Rainier her entire life. She knows the tiny town's ins and outs like the back of her hand, the people like they are her family, their quirks as if they were her own. She knows her once charming town is now remembered for one reason,...
Dec 28, 2023•50 min
TED FLANAGAN EVERY HIDDEN THING , of Worcester (Woosta) Mass,, and PAUL BURKE chat about some of their favourite crime novels of 2023 and gives us a couple of titles to look out for in 2024, Translation, EVERY HIDDEN THING Big city politics, nasty secrets, a dirty cop, and a deranged sociopath set the stage for a riveting journey deep into the urban jungle. The last scion of a once-powerful political family, Worcester mayor John O'Toole has his sights set on vastly higher aspirations. When night...
Dec 26, 2023•1 hr
